The Muddy Awards have gone bonkers this year – thank you so much the thousands of you who have voted so far. But I am fielding lots of calls and questions about how things actually work, so I thought it might be helpful if I just go over it all very quickly to make it clear for voters and businesses.

1. How it works

There are 2 parts to the Awards. The first part is the nominations process and it’s a basically a popularity contest of who gets most votes as nominated by Muddy readers. The 5 most popular businesses in each category will make it through to the final. For voters, this means that you need to step up for your favourite business NOW, otherwise they might not make it through to the final round. Businesses, this means you need to get your fans to click and vote for you now while you’re still in the running because when voting ends on 6 April, it’s too late.

2. The Finals

The first round of voting (as described above) ends on 6 April and reopens for the final on 25 April. I’m using these three weeks over Easter to dash around and check out the top 5 in each category to make sure that I’m happy that they are in my final. I have a ‘veto’ to overthrow inappropriate finalists (though I didn’t have to use it at all in 2013), as quality control is at the absolute heart of Muddy.

3. Voting is transparent

The Finals start on 25 April and end on 23 May. The entire voting process at this point will be 100% transparent on the blog in real time (my lovely cocktail glass % measures will return!) and at this point I will have no say in who wins. It’s a Harry Hill ‘fight! fight!’ scenario.

4. Champers ahoy

It’s bubbles-o-clock for the Muddy Awards winners at the celebration drinkies, where you’ll be given your winner’s pack and a whole load of great networking opportunities. The date is tbc, so I’ll fire some details through after Easter.

5. Um….

Well you’re supposed to write these things in fives! So um, PLEASE VOTE IF RIGHT NOW if you haven’t already. You’ve probably been thinking, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that when I have a bit of spare time’ but if you’re like me, free time existed 10 years ago. Help the plucky little shop near you by clicking here. You don’t have to vote in all categories – just the ones you’re interested in. So please support the little businesses you love and feel all warm and fluffy afterwards.